Holy Child of Jesus began in the most humble way, as a mission church built first in people's homes and hearts. Before there was ever a building, the Catholics of Dumas gathered for Mass in the home of Estelle and Arthur L. Mayer, moving furniture and setting up folding chairs each Sunday for about three years, then quietly restoring the house before the week began again.

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By the time the small parish was ready to build something permanent, it had grown to about 18 families, roughly 53 people in all, praying and saving toward a church of their own. Groundbreaking took place on November 18, 1966, and while the walls rose, Mass continued in the borrowed chapel of a local funeral home. The new brick church was completed and dedicated in 1967, and it still stands today at 807 East Waterman Street in Dumas, a testament to what a handful of faithful families can build together.

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The congregation was small in its early years. About a dozen Catholics in the area as late as 1954 grew to 50 or more, with the church filling on major holidays. Holy Child remains part of the wider missionary effort in southeastern Arkansas, grouped in faith and fellowship with St. Mark in Monticello and St. Mary in McGehee within the South Delta Deanery.

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Today, Holy Child of Jesus is served from St. Mark, still offering Mass and religious education in both English and Spanish to a community shaped by its own perseverance.